History of International Relations
- Ending: Examination
- Range: 2C
- Semester: winter
- Year: 3
- Faculty of International Relations
Teachers
Included in study programs
Teaching results
The course focuses on the interpretation of the international relations history and the history of international relations theory within the Euro-Atlantic civilization and culture. The result of the study is specialisation in the areas of knowledge, developing new competences and skills in the area of interdisciplinary focused study of humanities and social sciences (philosophy, historiography, political science and diplomacy).
Knowledge: the student will acquire knowledge in the field of international relations historiography and international relations theory. During the course, the student will ascertain knowledge about the basic state formations on the territory of Europe, as well as their cultural, legal and political development. Specific attention is given to the development and functioning of state institutions, the philosophy of war and the history of diplomacy. The student will also acquire knowledge of the interpretative literature and gain an overview of selected classical theoretical works, concepts and terminology from the field of political thought and philosophy, from classical antiquity to the twentieth century.
Competences: the course focuses on developing competences in three main areas: in critical thinking, in interpreting political history and understanding its relevance for today, in textual hermeneutics and working with scholarly and contemporary literature. By completing the course, students will be acquainted with the ways in which information sources in the fields of political science and international relations are collated, interpreted and classified. Students will more accurately distinguish historical facts from pseudo-historical narratives. They will be able to interpret historical phenomena coherently within the broader socio-political context of the past and present.
Skills: After completing the course, students will acquire interpretive, analytical and presentation skills. They will be able to articulate basic themes and issues within the professional study of international relations, as well as techniques for resolving a variety of interpretive problems and issues related to socio-political phenomena. Furthermore, students will acquire the competences to debate and critically reflect on selected historical-systematic areas in the study of international relations and political science; to identify key formative aspects within European political history, the history of European diplomacy and the history of European political thought; to gain access to the most relevant sources of information, which will enable them to orientate more easily in the further stages of higher education.
Indicative content
Indicative content:
1. The Bronze Age (ancient globalization, political economy, technology of empire, major military conflicts and typology of state formations)
2. Classical Antiquity I (the Greco-Persian Wars and the Peloponnesian War; Alexander of Macedonia and the Hellenistic diadochic kingdoms; the idea of cosmopolitanism; Greco-Roman diplomacy)
3. Classical Antiquity II (first historical and theoretical works - Herodotus, Thucydides, Plato, Aristotle, Polybius, G. I. Caesar, Cicero, Tacitus; the emergence of realism in international relations theory)
4. The period of decline of classical antiquity (the Roman-Jewish wars, the disintegration of the Roman Empire into the Western Roman and the Eastern Roman empire; the legal system of the East Roman Empire and the Codex Justinianus)
5. The Dark Ages (emergence of the Islamic caliphates; Charlemagne and the division of the Frankish Empire; cultural diplomacy of the Byzantine Empire in southern, central, and eastern Europe).
6. International relations in the 11th-16th centuries (the idea of Christian universalism and the Crusades; the emergence of Italian city states and the fall of Constantinople; Niccòlo Machiavelli and Ragion di Stato; the category of dynastic interest; early modern utopias)
7. International Relations in the 17th Century (The Thirty Years' War and the formation of the Westphalian international system; Émeric Crucé, Thomas Hobbes, Gottfried W. Leibniz, Hugo Grotius and the philosophy of international law; absolutism and state sovereignty)
8. International relations in the 18th century (Enlightenment and contractualist theories; D. Hume, J. J. Rousseau, I. Kant and the emergence of liberalism in international relations theory)
9. International Relations in the 19th Century I. (revolutions and their impact on political, economic and social thought; List, Bismarck and German Realpolitik)
10. International Relations in the 19th Century II (Darwinian Revolution and its impact on political thought; Marxism and the theory of imperialism)
11. World War I (idealism, realism, Marxism, fascism, and the debate over the causes of World War I; the course and actors of World War I)
12. The interwar period (Paris Peace Conference; W. Wilson and the formation of the League of Nations, the formation of international relations as an academic discipline; E. Carr and the first great debate in international relations theory)
13. World War II (economic, social, political causes leading to the outbreak of World War II; the concept of Lebensraum; the politics of appeasement; the course of World War II and outbreak of the Cold War)
Support literature
Primary literature:
ČECH, Ľ. – ŠKVRNDA, F. – KUCHARČÍK, R.: History of International Relations in the 20th Century and the First Years of the New Millennium. Odessa: Institute of Public Service and Management National University „Odessa Polytechnica“ 2022. ISBN 978-617-692-713-6.
KNUTSEN, T.: A History of International Relations Theory. Manchester: Manchester University Press 1992. ISBN 0-7190-3659-3.
LINKLATER, A.: Violence and Civilization in the Western States-Systems. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press 2016.
Further reading:
BAIN, W.: Political Theology of International Order. Oxford : Oxford University Press 2020. ISBN 978-0-19-885990-1.
GRIECO, J. – IKENBERRY, G. J. – MASTANDUNO, M.: Introduction to International Relations. Perspectives, Connections, and Enduring Questions. [2nd edition]. London : Macmillan International / Red Globe Press 2019. ISBN 978-117486-57-3.
J. O. HYLAND: Persian Interventions. The Achaemenid Empire, Athens & Sparta, 450 – 386 BCE. Baltimore : John Hopkins University Press 2018. ISBN 9781421423708.
H. LeROY MALCHOW: History and International Relations. London : Bloomsbury Academic
2016. ISBN 9781441115744.
K. HAMILTON – R. LANGHORNE: The Practice of Diplomacy. [2nd edition]. London, New York : Routledge 2011. ISBN 978-0-415-49765-7.
K. A. RAAFLAUB (ed.): War and Peace in the Ancient World. Oxford : Blackwell Publishing 2007. ISBN 1-4051-4526-9.
A. V. HARTMANN – B. HEUSER (eds.): War, Peace and World Orders in European History. London, New York : Routledge 2001. ISBN 0-415-24441-2.
Requirements to complete the course
Continuous preparation (20%)
Semestral work (20%)
Written exam (60%)
Student workload
Total workload of the student = 104h
Workload for individual learning activities: active participation in exercises = 26h, continuous preparation for exercises = 26h, preparation of semestral work = 10h, preparation for final written exam = 42h
Language whose command is required to complete the course
English language
Date of approval: 13.03.2024
Date of the latest change: 16.03.2023